Woods tops field in world ranking points
Along with victories, money and scoring average, another way to measure the strength of a golf season is total world ranking points. Tiger Woods, as it turns out, won that category, too, but just barely over Henrik Stenson. A closer look reveals it was not really that close.
Woods earned 488.75 points this year, only 3.65 points ahead of Stenson. Adam Scott was third, more than 100 points behind.
The difference, however, is that Woods played only 19 tournaments that awarded world ranking points. Stenson, on the other hand, played 31 tournaments. Woods earned an average of 25.7 points for every tournament he played, compared with 15.6 points for Stenson.
This is nothing new for Woods. He tends to play the toughest courses against the strongest fields. He also helps to make the field strong as the No. 1 player in the world. And while he doesn’t play often, he plays well when he does tee it up.
“Most of my events I play in the majority of my career have been on the more difficult venues, and against the better fields,” Woods said this month. “And now that we have not just the majors and The Players, but we also have the World Golf Championships … and also the playoffs at the end of the year, you’re getting the top players to play together more often. And I’m very proud of my overall record, especially in the bigger events.”
More on the ranking
The top 28 players in the world ranking at the end of 2012 were PGA Tour members this year, which made the gap between the PGA Tour and the European Tour even wider in measuring strength of field.
The average reward for PGA Tour winners was 56.2 ranking points, compared with 43 points on the European Tour. That includes the majors and World Golf Championships for both tours. Remove those eight big events, and the average was 47.3 points for PGA Tour winners compared with 33.1 points on the European Tour.
Except for the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth, which gets a bonus as the flagship event, the strongest field on the European Tour was in Abu Dhabi (54 points).
Kerr becomes mother
Two weeks after the LPGA Tour season ended, Cristie Kerr became a mother for the first time.
Mason Kerr Stevens was born Dec. 8. Kerr and her husband, Erik Stevens, had the child through surrogacy because of what Kerr said were “personal medical complications precluding us from traditional pregnancy.”
Picking the pairing
The PGA Tour already alters pairings to create marquee groups for the opening two rounds. Now it is letting the fans get involved.
In voting that will end Monday, fans can go to the tour’s website to vote who should be paired with defending champion Dustin Johnson at Kapalua for the Tournament of Champions that starts Jan. 3. The choices are Masters champion Adam Scott, Matt Kuchar and Brandt Snedeker.
Notes
Michael Kim, the NCAA player of the year from Cal, will make his pro debut at Torrey Pines in San Diego. Kim grew up in Del Mar, Calif., and attended Torrey Pines High School. He earned his Web.com Tour card at Q-school this month. … The PGA Tour Latinoamerica has added tournaments in Panama, Guatemala and Mexico for the 2014 schedule, which will have 16 events in 10 countries. … Darren Clarke has a three-year deal as the pro and global ambassador at The Astbury, the first golf course designed by KK Downing, founding member of the British heavy metal band Judas Priest.